This is kind of flying all over the internet right now, but I couldn’t resist sharing. Artist Rashad Alakbarov fromAzerbaijan uses suspended translucent objects and other found materials to create light and shadow paintings on walls. The jaw-dropping light painting above, made with an array of colored airplanes is currently on view at the Fly to Baku exhibition at De Pury Gallery in London through January 29th.
Rashad Alakbarov graduated from the Faculty of Decorative Arts at Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Art in Baku in 2001. He works with different media, including painting, sculpture, theatre decorations, video art and architectural design. The use of shadows in his installation became the main direction in the artist’s conceptual work. The first public showing of this type of work was at the ‘Wings of Time’ exhibition in Baku in 2000. He’s work is held in private collections in Azerbaijan, Italy, Turkey and Russia.
Alakbarov’s works comprise massive installations, but not the typical kind which are geared for direct sensory perception – they contain a secret.
Objects, either diverse or homogenous, are arranged in such a manner that shadows cast on the wall under proper lighting have little to do with the image of the initial installation. In this duality lies the magic of Alakbarov’s works. Thematically many of his works are associated with the world of anime serials, filled with ideas of looming world catastrophes after man has unleashed the genie of high technology.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2014
WORDS, Museum of Modern Art, Baku, Azerbaijan
2013
THE OTHER CITY, YAY! Gallery, Baku, Azerbaijan
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2014
WORD AND ILLUMINATION IN COOPERATION WITH THE BRITISH MUSEUM, Le Meridien Medina Hotel, Almadinah, UAE
EAST WING BIENNIAL, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London.
2012-2013
FLY TO BAKU. Contemporary art from Azerbaijan, Kunsthistorisches museum – Neue Burg, Vienna, Austria; Spazio D – Maxxi building National Museum of XXI Century arts, Rome, Italy; Spazio D MAXXI building, National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome, Italy; Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia; me Collectors Room, Berlin, Germany; Hotel Salomon de Rothschild, Paris, France; Phillips de Pury& Company, London, UK
2013
ORNAMENTATION, 55th Venice Biennale, Azerbaijan Pavillion, Venice, Italy
Love Me Love Me Not, Contemporary Art from Azerbaijan and its Neighbours, Collateral Event for the 55th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
2012
Islamic Art Festival, Sharjah, UAE
FROM WASTE TO ART, Gala archeological and ethnographic museum, Baku, Azerbaijan
MERGING BRIDGES, Modern Art Museum, Baku, Azerbaijan
MAIDEN TOWER III International art festival, Baku, Azerbaijan
012 BAKU PUBLIC ART FESTIVAL, Baku, Azerbaijan
2011
FORWORD, Alternative Art Place, Baku
THE JOURNEY TO THE EAST, Contemporary Art Museum, Bialystok, Poland
FABULOUS FOUR, Kichik QalArt, Baku
CITY, Central House of the Artist, Moscow
BIG CAUCASUS, PERMM Gallery, Perm, Russia
2010
AZERBAIJAN CONTEMPORARY ART, Aidan Gallery, Moscow
2009
BAKUNLIMITED, ‘Cultural Days of Azerbaijan’, Voltahalle, Basel, Switzerland
2008
ART IS NOT ONLY UGLY, Atrium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin
STEPS OF TIME: Contemporary Art from Azerbaijan, Residenzschloss, Dresden, Germany
WAGE FLOOR, Contemporary Art Centre, Baku
2007
ALUMINIUM 3, International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Baku
EAST & WEST, Museum of Art, Die, France
OMNIA MEA, 52nd Venice Biennale, Venice
2006
CAUCASUS, NCAC, Moscow, Russia
TRANSFUSION, Contemporary Art Centre, Liestal, Switzerland
ALUMINIUM 2, International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Baku
2005
ALUMINIUM: ART + NEW TECHNOLOGIES, Shirvanshah’s Palace, Baku
2003
7+7. MORE TRANSPARENT, The Museum Centre, Baku
2002
ORIENTALISM: INSIDE & OUTSIDE, International Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Sattar Bahlulzadeh Exhibition Hall, Baku
2000
WINGS OF TIME, Exhibition of Young Artists, Khagani Art Center, Baku
